OLEG BLOKHIN says the Ukraine were the best team when they met England in June, but that it is now Roy Hodgson’s turn to feel the pressures of expectation.

The Ukraine manager was at the helm when his side lost 1-0 against England in their controversial Euro 2012 clash in Donetsk.

Blokhin’s men were furious, feeling cheated after crashing to defeat despite having a perfectly good goal ruled out.

They have the chance to exact revenge in tonight’s Group H World Cup qualifier at Wembley, with Blokhin insisting all the pressure to win is on England coach Hodgson.

Blokhin, now without the retired Andriy Shevchenko, said: “We were the better team back then. We surprised England and we can do it again. Of course we will fight and try to win, but I cannot help it if people expect England to triumph now.

“I can’t promise that we will win, but we come to Wembley to fight for victory and to show the result three months ago was just fortunate for England.

We were the better team back then. We surprised England and we can do it again. Of course we will fight and try to win, but I cannot help it if people expect England to triumph now

Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin

“We look at each game individually. If we look at each game as revenge, we would lose this one. Such is life. You cannot stop that and you have to move forward, no matter how difficult. The best team does not always win in football.

“That match was frustrating for us. First of all our goal was ruled out. The referee made two mistakes. Of course it hurt us, but it’s history. We dominated the game and we did not deserve the result. But we understand that England are now the favourites.

“There is more pressure on them as they are playing at home. Our team is respected and we have players who are competitive and want to win. So we have no fears going into this game.

“There will be more pressure on England, whether they like it or not.

“Perhaps it is the same pressure that we had when we played them before. Maybe it is the opposite from when we were playing them in Donetsk.

“But I do not think that any of our young players will be worried about turning out at Wembley. They really do not have anything to fear. They just need to come out and play their natural game”

Veteran Ukrainian midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk says the visitors will be hell-bent on revenge.

“Of course we’ve not forgotten that game against the English,” he said. “How can we when we were so unfortunate?

“I don’t think England showed us anything special in Donetsk. The truth is we were a lot better than them, but unfortunately they still progressed.

“It’s probably fair to say that we’re still hurting a bit because of that result. After all, we had a perfectly good goal chalked off and we were also denied a definite penalty. You could say we paid the price of mistakes by the referee.

“But at the end of the day we fell short. We were missing something back then, but now the time is right to change everything around.”